As Oklahoma Teachers Return To Class, Colorado May Be Next

This week Oklahoma teachers declared victory after their historic walkout and returned to classrooms. The protests resulted in a pay increase of $6,100 per teacher—the largest such raise in state history.

Educators also won raises for support staff such as cafeteria workers, and state lawmakers agreed to increase funding to Oklahoma public schools by a total $70 million in recurring yearly revenue.

Meanwhile, many teachers in Colorado believe it’s their turn now.

As ABC News reports, scores of educators in the Centennial State left their classrooms this week and arrived at the state capitol in Denver to ask legislators for more funding and higher pay.

The Colorado case is an unusual one, as the state has a Democratic Governor and assembly. All of the other states experiencing teacher unrest in recent weeks have been Republican-controlled states, including West Virginia, Kentucky, Arizona and Oklahoma.

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Oklahoma schools are closed again today for an eighth straight school day, as teachers continue to protest low teacher pay and skimpy funding. CNN reported yesterday that the teacher movement is “gaining momentum.”

One group of teachers walked the 100 miles from Tulsa to the capitol in Oklahoma City, to draw attention to their plight.

The arrival of spring break didn’t stop teachers in Oklahoma from pursuing their quest for higher pay.

As KFOR reports, this week many teachers traded in their vacations to instead visit the state capitol, in hopes of convincing Oklahoma lawmakers to raise their compensation and staving off a statewide walkout on April 2nd.

Oklahoma’s state employees announced this weekend that they will join the state’s teachers in a walkout early next month if lawmakers do not meet the teachers’ demands for increased pay and school funding.

As The Oklahoman reports, the Oklahoma Public Employees Association board of directors met on Saturday and approved a work stoppage plan if the state legislature doesn’t agree to $213 million in state employee pay raises by April 2.

West Virginia teachers had a big win this week after state legislators met demands for a 5% increase for all educators and school administrators statewide.

Now, the next battleground in the teacher pay debate looks to be the state of Oklahoma.

As The Oklahoman reports, state lawmakers have three weeks to approve $800 million in additional public school funding, including money for teacher pay raises, or educators across the state are going to walk off the job.